Welcome! This is a Non-Political and a Non-Profit site (to include its authors and contributors) and does not subscribe to any revisionist organizations. This site is only to explore the combat role and history of the European Waffen-SS in World War II. Enlistment rolls show that a total of 950,000 men (German and foreigners) served in its ranks between 1940 and 1945. This blog contains a collection of real events and information on these volunteers for historical research and documentation.

The Soviet Winter Offensive (November 1942 – March 1943)

Soviet winter counter-offensive 1942 – 1943

The Soviet winter offensive of 1942 struck the Germans in the southern sector of the Eastern Front like a hammer blow, destroying a number of Romanian, Hungarian and Italian divisions, as well as the remnants of the German 6.Armee at Stalingrad. Soviet forces began the final phase of their offensive on January 14 1943 with a massive attack on the overstretched Axis armies dug-in along the River Don. The battered Axis divisions were driven back towards the Dnieper, and the Soviet 3rd Guards Tank Army were moving south to cut off German troops retreating from the Caucasus through Rostov. All seemed lost, as the newly formed SS-Panzerkorps took the field in the depths of the Soviet winter. Credit: Gordon Williamson. Image: Public domain.